article · Fishes
Aquaculture provides a vital source of protein and livelihoods while easing pressure on wild fisheries. Nevertheless, the industry faces severe sustainability hurdles, including heavy reliance on expensive fishmeal, adverse environmental impacts, and the routine use of antibiotics that can harm aquatic organisms and ecosystems. Incorporating functional feed additives into aquafeeds presents a practical solution to these issues. Unlike conventional feeds that satisfy only fundamental nutritional needs, functional ingredients promote growth, support aquatic health, and provide economic and environmental benefits. Key additives under consideration include probiotics, prebiotics, symbiotics, and phytogenics. Evaluating these dietary interventions highlights their potential to advance sustainable farming practices, while also identifying the operational challenges that currently hinder their broader implementation in the aquaculture sector.
As global demand for seafood rises, fish farming must expand without exhausting wild fish stocks or polluting surrounding waters. Replacing traditional antibiotics and expensive fishmeal with functional feed ingredients offers a practical path to improve fish health, cut operational expenses, and reduce the environmental footprint of aquatic food production.
Aquafeed producers and fish farm operators can utilise functional ingredients, including probiotics, prebiotics, and phytogenics, to formulate feeds that reduce reliance on wild-caught fishmeal and antibiotics. Given the focus on identifying ongoing practical challenges, these solutions represent early-stage to mid-stage application, where successful commercialisation hinges on resolving specific formulation and operational barriers.
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Aquaculture serves as a source of protein and livelihood and is an alternative to capture fisheries, thereby reducing pressure on the wild. However, aquaculture tends to be limited by sustainability issues, which include overdependency on fishmeal, the high cost associated with fishmeal, the environmental impact of aquaculture activities, which may be detrimental to aquatic lives and the environment, and the use of antibiotics to treat diseases, which may have an adverse effect in their host or the environment. Efforts are being made toward attaining practical ways to enhance aquaculture sustainability. One such effort is using functional feed additives in feed formulation. Functional feed additives are dietary ingredients incorporated in feed formulations, not only for the usual provision of basic nutritional requirements as offered by traditional feed but also for growth and health enhancement; environmental and economic gain. This review emphasizes the importance of incorporating functional feed additives such as probiotics, prebiotics, symbiotics, and phytogenics. This study evaluates and presents holistic information on functional additives, their roles in enhancing aquaculture sustainability, and the challenges encountered in their application.
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DOI: 10.3390/fishes9050167
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